Both in the private and in the professional sector, battery-operated work apparatus are being used more and more frequently. Powerful batteries such as batteries based chemically on lithium have a high energy density, so that even more demanding, longer tasks can be carried out with electric work apparatus. For example, battery-operated hedge trimmers, battery-operated power saws and battery-operated brush cutters are known, which have a battery pack inserted into the housing of the work apparatus.
If a great deal of work is to be carried out with brush cutters or hedge trimmers, larger battery packs have to be used in order to achieve long operating times, and are predominantly carried by the user separately from the electric work apparatus. In this case, a connecting cable connects the battery pack carried by the user to the electric load in the work apparatus, the connecting cable being connected to the battery pack via a connecting plug. The cable run of the connecting cable that results is arbitrary and, depending on the work to be carried out, can hinder or restrict the user in terms of the freedom of his movement. Given such cable guidance, the connecting plug is secured mechanically to the socket or the housing, in order that detachment of the connecting plug from its socket on the battery pack, occurring as a result of tensile forces on the cable, is prevented.